silks have lice and scaly mites.

[katiekaboom]

I have 2 white silkys that were given to me. i don't know much about chickens but I'm trying to learn as fast as i can. i read chickens in your backyard and i fingered out they have scaly mites the male is so bad his lags look deformed. I don't won't to kill them because my husband will probably not let me get more if these don't work out. last night i put Vaseline on the legs and noticed lice eggs all over the birds. we don't have mush of a feed store around hear but i think somewhere their is an Amish owned one if i can find it.

 

[Jenski]

I use Poultry Dust (Prozap, I think) that contains permethrin. You should be able to find this at your local co-op or feed store. I dust as a preventive once every week or two; I just wait until bedtime, then slap on some rubber gloves, pour a little into one hand and gently hold the hen's chest with the other. I toss some up on their behinds, and gently rub into the feathers, being sure to get the vent area. A bit more rubbed under each wing, and all finished! If you already have mites, you will need to apply once every 4 - 5 days for two weeks or so to get the later hatches.

You might also want to clean out the coop and consider dusting coop and run areas with food-grade diatomaceous earth. You can do a search on this popular topic!

Keep up with the vaseline for the scaly leg mites; it will take several weeks to get rid of them.

Good luck!

 

[katiekaboom]

thanks last night when i was putting the Vaseline on their lags some scales fall off is this o.k.? and one has a small bloody spot on one of its lags.

 

[Jenski]

This can happen in bad cases; just keep things as clean as possible, and in time they should heal. You may want to consider a dab of antibiotic ointment; just don't use anything ending in "caine" ~ like benzocaine, stuff containing lidocaine, etc. to be safe. There are lots of folks here who suggest these substances are toxic to chickens, and I haven't yet done all the research to confirm or negate this factoid floating around.

Also watch for redness or swelling. Keep up the good, goopy work!